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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 001338
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT G/TIP FOR: SALLY NEUMANN; NEA/RA: JOHN MENARD
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRMPHUMKWMNSMIGKFRDASECPREFELABISISRAELISOCIETYGOIINTERNAL
SUBJECT: ISRAEL: FIFTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT
(3 OF 3)
REF: SECSTATE 273089
¶1. (SBU) This is the third part of a three-part message
responding to reftel. Embassy point of contact is Jenifer
Joyce, telephone number (972)(3) 519-7437, fax number
(972)(3) 519-7484.
------------------------------------
Protection and Assistance to Victims
------------------------------------
¶A. Does the government assist victims, for example, by
providing temporary to permanent residency status, relief
from deportation, shelter and access to legal, medical and
psychological services?
-- Sex Trafficking: On February 15, 2004 the government
opened in Tel Aviv the first shelter for trafficking victims,
established with funding from the U.S. government. The
shelter's maximum capacity is 50 persons. The government
reported that, as of January 3, 2005, 45 women and one child
were housed in the shelter. A steering committee for the
shelter makes decisions on matters of policy and practice,
and includes representatives from the Ministry of Social
Affairs, police, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of
Justice, Ministry of Health, and the NGO Keshet, as well as
the director of the shelter. The Ministry of Public Security
is in charge of guarding the shelter, providing protection
for the women and accompanying them to court proceedings and
District Attorneys' offices. All women residing in the
shelter receive legal, medical and psychological services.
All victims residing in the shelter are entitled to receive
temporary visas for their stay. These visas are issued
according to a procedure requiring the cooperation of the
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior. The
memorandum of agreement between the U.S. and Israeli
governments provides that a "preference" be given to women
who agree to testify against their traffickers, but police
say they transfer to the shelter only those women who agree
to testify. A GOI official, however, said that some women
who had not agreed to testify, but who represented
particularly compelling humanitarian cases, were transferred
to the shelter.
The Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Labor, has established a system of
issuing work permits to trafficking victims residing in the
shelter without limiting them to a specific job or field.
This system is not available to trafficking victims who do
not reside in the shelter. Medical care is financed by the
Ministry of Health and provided by a physician at the shelter
and at Ichilov Hospital. The country does not have specific
victim care and victim health care facilities.
-- Labor Trafficking: Foreign Workers, including any who have
been trafficked, may be given a temporary stay of deportation
if they have a complaint pending before the Crime Unit of the
Immigration Administration, and they are released for
employment purposes if they are testifying against a
trafficker or employer who is being prosecuted. Although
such legal protections are in place, the government provides
no shelter, psychological or medical services for such
foreign workers.
¶B. Does the government provide funding or other forms of
support to foreign or domestic NGOs for services to victims?
Currently, the government provides no funding or other
support to foreign or domestic NGOs for provision of services
to victims. Prior to the opening of the shelter for victims
of trafficking in February 2004, police housed witnesses in
police-funded hostels, but police sources say they have
stopped this program and now send all witnesses who are
trafficking victims for the purpose of prostitution to the
shelter in Tel Aviv.
¶C. Is there a screening and referral process in place, when
appropriate, to transfer victims detained, arrested or placed
in protective custody by law enforcement authorities to NGOs
that provide short or long-term care?
NGO representatives are given access to detention facilities,
where they can assist victims. Any detained foreign national
undergoes several screening and monitoring procedures. The
detainee is interviewed in the detention facility by a police
officer and has a hearing before a representative of the
Ministry of the Interior, but NGOs claim that interpreters
are not always provided and the hearings are frequently
conducted in Hebrew. At the detention facility, a detainee
is interviewed by the detention facility officer to ensure
that he/she has valid travel documents, as well as by an
inspector of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor to
determine whether he/she is owed money and to facilitate
collection of that money. In the case of minors staying in
Israel illegally, the Immigration Authority refers them to
NGOs or local social services for assistance and does not
detain them. Such procedures apply equally to TIP victims
for prostitution or sexual exploitation and for labor, as
both types of victims are frequently housed in the same
detention centers. NGOs aver that while these hearings are
systematically conducted, the interviewers do not receive
training on TIP and do not refer victims who have health or
other problems for follow-up. Victims are also not always
referred to police officers, who could investigate the
trafficking charges and obtain information from the victims
before they are deported, according to NGOs.
¶D. Are the rights of victims respected, or are victims also
treated as criminals? Are victims detained, jailed or
deported?
NGOs report that victims of trafficking are often treated as
illegal foreign workers and detained in facilities for
illegal foreign workers and/or deported quickly. They are
not, however, indicted or prosecuted as criminals. The GOI
acknowledges that some victims of trafficking are not
identified as such and are deported.
-- Sex trafficking: Many sex trafficking victims are deported
soon after discovery, unless the victim is willing to testify
against her traffickers, according to GOI and NGO sources.
Sex trafficking victims who are willing to testify against
their traffickers are released from detention (where most
victims are held, pending deportation), housed in the
trafficking victims' shelter, and provided full board and
pocket money. The government says that during 2004, 108
women identified as victims of trafficking for prostitution
were transferred to the shelter. The police sent the
majority of these women directly to the shelter upon
discovering them as a result of police investigations, e.g.,
during raids on brothels. The government reported that 40 of
these women were transferred to the shelter from detention
facilities run by the Immigration Administration. The
government says that some women identified by NGOs as special
humanitarian cases were also referred to the shelter, even if
they did not agree to testify.
-- Labor trafficking: Most labor trafficking victims are
deported for violations of immigration laws, but are not
prosecuted. In most cases, according to GOI and NGO
contacts, the government subsidizes the workers' airline
tickets home. If the worker files a criminal complaint
against an employer in which he or she must testify, that
worker may be generally released and allowed to work
temporarily pending conclusion of the trial, according to the
GOI. NGO contacts aver that this rarely happens. More
typically, they say, the worker is either detained pending
conclusion of the trial or is deported so quickly that he/she
does not have an opportunity to testify.
-- Are victims fined?
Victims are not fined, according to both NGOs and the
government.
-- Are victims prosecuted for violations of other laws, such
as those governing immigration or prostitution?
Victims may be detained and deported for violating
immigration laws, but are not prosecuted. Prostitution is
not specifically prohibited by law, although the activities
surrounding prostitution are illegal. Victims of trafficking
for prostitution are not prosecuted.
¶E. Does the government encourage victims to assist in the
investigation and prosecution of trafficking?
Police say that they often try to convince victims to
testify. NGOs say, however, that the police often fail to
identify many trafficking victims as such, with the result
that most trafficking victims are deported before they are
given the chance to testify, and valuable information is
permanently lost. The police reported that 904 foreign women
were detained on charges of protitution in 2004, and that 796
women picked up for prostitution were deported in 2004
without testifying. (Note: Available data does not indicate
in what year those women deported from the country were
actually detained on charges of prostitution.) During 2004,
108 victims testified, as compared to 81 victims who
testified in 2003. NGOs claim that many trafficking victims
are deterred from cooperating with the investigation and
prosecution of trafficking because if they agree to testify,
they must often wait in detention (for victims of labor
trafficking) or in the shelter (for victims of sex
trafficking) until the conclusion of legal proceedings.
-- Can victims file civil suits or seek legal action against
the traffickers?
As a matter of law and policy, victims have the right to
initiate civil suits against traffickers. These include
suits filed in labor courts for violations of labor law and
civil suits regarding violations of contracts and torts.
NGOs, however, say that victims who seek legal action face
obstacles. Many victims do not have access to legal
representation and therefore do not know about their options
to file suit. The necessity of remaining in Israel to
conclude such a lawsuit deters many from filing an action in
the first place.
One NGO reported that no civil suit brought by a victim of
sex-related trafficking has been carried through to a
judgment, although several are pending. Criminal courts,
however, reportedly have awarded financial compensation to
victims in sex trafficking cases.
The Kav La Oved NGO reported that it has provided legal
representation to labor trafficking victims and other foreign
workers who have suffered physical or economic abuse at the
hands of employers. Its representatives claim to have won
cases for about 300 foreign workers a year in recent years,
with judgments for all their clients combined totaling
$500,000 to $1 million a year.
-- Does anyone impede the victims' access to such legal
redress?
No, although NGOs point out that many victims are deported
before they have the opportunity to seek legal redress.
-- If a victim is a material witness in a court case against
the former employer, is the victim permitted to obtain other
employment or to leave the country?
Victims who are material witnesses in court cases receive
visa extensions from the Interior Ministry and are permitted,
in some instances, to obtain other employment, although NGOs
say these are rare occurrences. The lawyer for that
worker/witness must appeal for an administrative ruling to
allow the worker to seek other employment. These cases are
decided on a case-by-case basis, and take into account the
length of time the worker has been in country and will need
to stay to complete his/her testimony. If the worker leaves
the country, he/she will need to re-enter the country with a
valid visa, which deters most victims from leaving or, if
they do, from returning.
-- Is there a victim restitution program?
No government-run victim restitution program exists, but
victims may seek redress in the court system.
¶F. What kind of protection is the government able to provide
for victims and witnesses? Does it provide these protections
in practice?
The police report that they provide physical and legal
protection to approximately 100 witnesses in trafficking
cases per year. On July 25, 2002, the State Attorney and the
Commissioner of Police appointed an Inter-Ministerial
Committee, headed by the former District Attorney of
Jerusalem, to develop a witness protection plan. Although
the Inter-Ministerial Committee issued a recommendation in
September 2004 that the government establish an authority to
protect witnesses, the lack of financial resources has
prevented it from coming to fruition, according to the GOI.
-- How many shelters does the government run or fund (in full
or in part)?
The government runs one 50-bed shelter for victims of
trafficking for prostitution. The government does not have a
comparable shelter for victims of labor trafficking. Prior
to the opening of the shelter for victims of trafficking in
February 2004, police housed witnesses in police-funded
hostels, but police sources say they have stopped doing this
and now send all witnesses who are trafficking victims for
the purpose of prostitution to the shelter in Tel Aviv.
¶G. Does the government provide any specialized training for
government officials in recognizing trafficking and in the
provision of assistance to trafficked victims, including the
special needs of trafficked children?
Yes, inspectors of the Enforcement Division of the Ministry
of Industry, Trade and Labor are given general investigative
skills training and specific training concerning the
enforcement of labor laws. Attorneys from the Ministry of
Industry, Trade, and Labor and the Ministry of Justice
carried out two workshops in 2004 for inspectors of the
Enforcement Division dealing with techniques for identifying
serious infringement of foreign workers' rights and cases of
trafficking in persons, as well as the special steps to be
taken in such cases. The police also conducted several
workshops and lectures. Guest speakers delivered 20 lectures
on trafficking to police in 2004. A workshop focused on the
trafficking of women was held February 15-19, and another one
on August 1-5, 2004, for investigators in governmental
departments that investigate trafficking cases. No
specialized training exists regarding trafficked children, as
no evidence exists of such trafficking in Israel. NGOs say
that inspectors with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and
Labor are doing a better job than in previous years at
investigating allegations of trafficking and labor law
violations, and that the training they receive is adequate.
NGO representatives charge, however, that the Ministry has
too few inspectors, and that not all of them receive the
trafficking training.
-- Does the government provide training on protection and
assistance to its embassies and consulates in foreign
countries that are destination or transit countries?
Israel is a destination country, not a source country. In
source countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun
an informational campaign to distribute informational
brochures to potential victims of trafficking. Israeli
embassy and consulate staff distribute these informational
brochures to visa applicants whom they suspect might become
trafficking victims.
-- Does it urge those embassies and consulates to develop
ongoing relationships with NGOs that serve trafficked
victims?
Currently, there are no efforts to develop such relationships
with trafficking NGOs in source countries, according to
government and NGO contacts.
¶H. Does the government provide assistance, such as medical
aid, shelter or financial help, to its repatriated nationals
who are victims of trafficking?
Israel is not a source country for TIP, so it does not have
any repatriated nationals who are victims of trafficking.
¶I. Which international organizations or NGOs, if any, work
with trafficking victims? What type of services do they
provide? What sort of cooperation do they receive from local
authorities ?
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) have
been actively involved in anti-trafficking activities. The
AJJDC has given courses to victims/residents in the
trafficking victims' shelter in Tel Aviv. Its
representatives have also met with NGOs to define the
programs necessary to combat trafficking. The Hotline for
Migrant Workers provides assistance to victims in several
areas: legal representation and counseling, assisting in
coordinating their return to their countries of origin,
aiding the victims to receive medical services, providing
books and clothing, and maintaining consistent contact with
the police and the Ministry of Justice. The NGO "Isha
Laisha" (Woman to Woman) has continued its role in the north
of Israel, providing assistance to victims there and alerting
government agencies regarding special problems. Kav La Oved
has been very active, particularly in helping trafficking
victims for labor from China, by providing translation
services and legal assistance.
********************************************* ********************
Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv
You can also access this site through the State Department's
Classified SIPRNET website.
********************************************* ********************
KURTZER